Do you use PortableApps’ Firefox builds to test out Firefox betas or launch from a thumb drive? Firefox obsessive (and former Lifehacker intern) AsianAngel details the surefire way to bring your portable browser up to date.
Windows only: Reader David writes in about a user-contributed build of Firefox 3.5 Beta 4 using some custom patches and optimised build settings to make it run faster and use less memory.
Like its brethren browsers Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8, Firefox is moving toward separating tabs into system processes, increasing browsing stability and taking advantage of increasingly common multi-processor systems.
There’s a lot about the next iteration of the open-source Firefox browser to be geeked out about. From private browsing modes to tab preview panels, from punchier colours to really smart session restoring, there’s been a lot of thought put into how people want to use the web. But perhaps the greatest promise in Firefox 3.1 is the one most users won’t see at all—a serious overhaul of the browser’s JavaScript engine, newly christened as TraceMonkey. If you don’t obsessively follow the Mozilla developer’s blogs or read insider tech news, you might have a few questions about TraceMonkey—like, say, what’s different about it, how much faster is it, why that matters, and how you can try it out right now. We’ve compiled a primer on TraceMonkey’s features and uses, as well as how to experience it. Read on to see what’s new under the hood in the upcoming Firefox. Graph via Brendan’s Roadmap Updates.
Owners of MacBooks with multi-touch trackpads can try out an experimental Firefox 3.1 build that supports finger gestures—swiping left and right for back and forward, pinch zooming, and twisting between tabs, amongst others. The gestures may or may not make it into the final 3.1 release, but at least one developer finds the tab-switching twist a big convenience. [via]
Three days after Tuesday’s release of version 3.0.2, Mozilla pushes out Firefox 3.0.3, an update that fixes one bug: “where users were unable to retrieve saved passwords or save new passwords.” Hit “Check for Updates” from the Help menu of your copy of Firefox 3 to get this latest version.
Your copy of Firefox 3 will give you the old “update available” notification soon—or you can hit the Help menu and choose “Check for Updates” instead—to get version 3.0.2, which gives you a slew of security updates and bug fixes related to keyboard shortcuts (on Mac) and web page layout.
The Mozilla Links blog reports that Firefox’s next release, version 3.1, will ship with colour profile support turned on by default. Colour profile support shows richer colours in certain images in your browser; if you can’t wait for 3.1 to drop, here’s how to enable it in your copy of Firefox 3 now.
The Tools for Thought blog runs down 15 useful commands you might not have known for Ubiquity, the experimental Firefox extension that acts on your typed requests (which Gina showed us around last week). Among the cooler uses are highlight, which leaves behind a semi-permanent yellow on selected text, and check Friday, which relays your Google Calendar appointments. Ubiquity testers, what commands are using to get things done? Offer up the code in the comments.
[Tools For Thought]Firefox 3 comes with several preferences baked into its options dialogs, but there are still a few you can only access by rolling up your sleeves and digging into its configuration manually. Power users have been diving under Firefox’s hood to get their browser to behave just how they like since version 0.9, but Firefox 3 offers some new settings that customise its new features. Let’s take a look at our favourite Firefox 3 about:config tweaks for customising your browser.
